If you probably have some idea about the history of the flag (well, like Peter the first decided to use it), then you still know why there are three colors and why are the colors exactly like that? Can you answer clearly?
If not, then I suggest you find out …
The state flag of the Russian Federation is a rectangular panel of three equal horizontal stripes: the top one is white, the middle one is blue and the bottom one is red. The ratio of the flag's width to its length is 2: 3.
There is no official interpretation of the meaning of the colors of the Russian flag.
Unofficially, three interpretations of colors are most often found, but none of them can be considered as true, they are all exclusively someone's subjective opinion:
1) red is the statehood, blue is the color of the Mother of God, under whose patronage Russia is, white is the color of freedom and independence;
2) one more "sovereign" interpretation of the meanings of the colors of the flag, which means the unity of three fraternal East Slavic peoples: white - the color of White Russia (Belarus), blue - Little Russia (Ukraine), red - Great Russia.
3) white color - peace, purity, purity, perfection; blue is the color of faith and fidelity, constancy; red symbolizes energy, strength, blood shed for the Fatherland.
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So why is there no official interpretation of the colors of the Russian flag? Maybe the story of his appearance will explain this incident …
In Russia, until the second half of the 17th century, there was no heraldic tradition according to the European model (the nobles had all kinds of emblems (both personal and family), both original Russian and those adopted under the influence of neighboring Tatar, Polish, Lithuanian and German traditions, but these emblems still did not take shape in full-fledged coats of arms in the European sense of the word). At the same time, it cannot be said that Russia lagged behind Europe in this matter - it simply took a different path. The kings had their own banners depicting emblems and patron saints, but by European standards these were personal standards rather than state flags.
Therefore, when external relations required the creation of coats of arms and flags according to European customs, in Russia they were a little confused and perhaps approached this a little lightly, starting the Russian vexillological tradition from scratch. It is noteworthy that if then Russia would have followed the path of developing its own traditions, and not copying Western ones, then the red flag (possibly with a golden two-headed eagle) would appear several centuries earlier than Soviet power.
But since history does not tolerate subjunctive moods, let's remember how we ended up under such a flag.
In 1634, an embassy from the Duke of Holstein Frederick III arrived at the court of Mikhail Fedorovich. In addition to diplomatic issues, the embassy also decided on the construction of ten ships on the Volga to travel to Persia.
The first ship, the Frederick, was launched in 1636. The life of his ship was short, but he went under the Holstein flag, suspiciously similar to our current tricolor.
So the tricolor flag was revealed to the eyes of the Russian people, but while it was not a Russian flag, it became Russian (or almost Russian) under Alexei Mikhailovich.
Alexei Mikhailovich chose this flag for the first Russian frigate "Eagle". Dutch engineer David Butler asked the tsar what flag to put on the ship.
Russia did not yet have its own flag, and the frigate's team consisted entirely of the Dutch, so without hesitation it was decided to put up a flag identical to the Dutch one, which, of course, is at least strange.
Going out under the Protestant flag to the sea for the then Russian sailors, who were 80 percent Pomors, was tantamount to taking an escort of women on board, bringing a solemn sacrifice of a seagull right on deck, erecting several coffins in the hold and breaking other signs …
One conclusion from this suggests itself: there was not a single Orthodox Christian on board the Eagle. Although, the ship is a ship. Ship flags used to be a complete formality, they were changed before entering ports, trade could not be threatened.
In general, the tricolor first appeared on a Russian ship by accident, reaching the point of absurdity.
Flag of the Tsar of Moscow
However, it is reliably known that for the first time the flag, consisting of three horizontal stripes of white, blue and red colors, was raised in 1693 by Peter I on the 12-gun yacht "Saint Peter" while sailing in the White Sea. A two-headed eagle was sewn onto the Peter's tricolor.
This flag is better known as the "Flag of the Tsar of Moscow". It has survived to this day and is now kept in the Central Naval Museum of the Ministry of Defense as a national relic.
The appearance of the tricolor under Peter also cannot be explained by the wisdom of choosing a ruler. He just loved Holland very much. So much so that many courtiers, after the return of Peter I from the great embassy, thought that he had been replaced.
In Rotterdam, Peter was awaited by a frigate built by Peter's order with a Dutch flag. Peter liked him so much that he decided not to change the banner.
The tricolor remained a symbol of Russia and its navy until the end of the reign of Peter the Great. In 1712, the St. Andrew's flag replaced the tricolor, and Russia found itself without a state symbol at all. On June 11, 1858, Alexander II proclaimed his black-yellow-white cloth as the flag of the Russian Empire. It was this tricolor that became the first official and legislatively approved flag of Russia. Historians believe that the color chosen by the emperor was dictated by the Austrian influence on the crowned person. In any case, the Russian people did not accept the black-yellow-white flag.
At that time, the empire simultaneously existed an official flag, personified with the Austrian throne, and a white-blue-red cloth, used in memory of Peter the Great. Alexander III resolved this dilemma with his decree. Thus, on April 28, 1883, the white-blue-red tricolor became the official flag of Russia. The black-yellow-white cloth passed to the Romanov dynasty, becoming their personal banner. After the October Revolution, the tricolor was replaced by the red banner, on which the hammer and sickle later appeared.
Why three colors?
The three colors on the Russian flag are associated with heraldic fashion that dates back to the Merovingians. On the banner of the Frankish king Clovis, there were three toads, denoting three mothers, three racial types, three psychological models of worldview: Freya, Lida and Findu.
Later, the toads were replaced by lilies, symbolizing first the Virgin Mary and then the Holy Trinity. There is no single meaning of the symbolism of the colors of the Russian flag.
Everyone is free to believe in what he wants, but it is significant that the colors of the Russian flag could have been different.
Initially, the Dutch flag was not red-blue-white, instead of red it was orange.
According to the official version, it was a revolution in everyday life that prompted the Dutch to change the orange color to red - the fact that the orange color, fading, acquired very interesting tones, up to green, and the flag looked like the "rainbow flag" popular today in certain circles.
1 - Russia, 2 - Slovenia (1991), 3 - Slovakia, 4 - Serbia, 5 - flag of the State Community of Serbia and Montenegro, 6 - Luxembourg, Netherlands, 7 - Croatia, 8 - flag of the Republic of Herceg-Bosna in the Muslim-Croatian Federation of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Why are other Slavs also under this flag?
Officially, there are three versions of why “our colors” are also present on the flags of other peoples who participated in the Pan-Slavic congress in the middle of the 19th century.
Two of them are absurd, one is true.
According to the first version, the colors are borrowed not from the Russian trade flag, but from the flag of France, and they represent, respectively, freedom, equality and brotherhood.
Of course it is not. Nicholas I, who has his own idea of these three values (fundamentally different from the ideals of the French Revolution), would hardly have allowed such a genesis.
The second version is even weaker: these colors went to the Pan-Slavs from the Duchy of Carniola, which is about three Moscow squares.
Finally, the main version is “Russian genesis”. Sponsorship and support from Russia is the main reason for the tricolor in the national flags of the Slavic peoples.
Why did the Provisional Government choose this flag?
It actually did not choose him. It just didn't change it. At the Legal Meeting in April 1917, it was decided to keep the flag as national.
At the May meeting of the Provisional Government, the issue of the flag was postponed "until the resolution of the Constituent Assembly."
In fact, the tricolor remained the national flag until the October Revolution, legally until April 13, 1918. when it was decided to establish the flag of the RSFSR.
During the Civil War, the tricolor was the flag of the Whites, the Soviet army fought under the red flag.
Why did Vlasov choose this flag?
ROA and RNNA consisted, by and large, of White emigrants. It is not at all surprising that it was the flag of tsarist Russia that was used by Vlasov.
For the fight against Stalinism and Bolshevism (this is how Vlasov justified his betrayal), there was simply no better flag. Tricolor even participated in the ROA parade in Pskov on June 22, 1943.
Why did Yeltsin choose this flag?
The first to use the tricolor after Vlasov was Garry Kasparov. During the world championship match with Anatoly Karpov (who played under the Soviet flag), Kasparov performed under the red-white-blue flag.
There was perestroika and Harry Kimovich, obviously, felt where and where the wind was blowing. By the way, Kasparov won that match. A year later, he won the flag. People with red-white-blue flags came to the putsch (an accident, probably).
The veterans, who 20 years ago there were much more, and who were also in the crowd at the House of Soviets, experienced bewilderment: they remembered the history of half a century ago.
One of the flags was on the tank with Boris Nikolaevich. It is interesting that the Yeltsin memorial at the Novodevichy cemetery is a huge tricolor. The flag returned with the 1991 putsch.